


4AM

by pipecleanerFlowers



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-22
Updated: 2014-10-22
Packaged: 2018-02-22 03:31:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2492873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pipecleanerFlowers/pseuds/pipecleanerFlowers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A night out at a karaoke bar with the gang ends with Kai waking up in Ren's apartment, trying to remember what happened before he passed out. Luckily nothing <i>too</i> embarrassing, but something's up with Ren...</p>
            </blockquote>





	4AM

**Author's Note:**

> This was probably supposed to be a KaiRen, but somehow morphed into this?? No regrets.

Kai wakes up with a splitting headache.

It’s almost nine in the morning, he has class in ten minutes, and he doesn’t remember his bedspread ever having the Hoenn starter Pokemon printed on it.

“You look like shit.”

Kai looks up to see Ren Suzugamori standing in the middle of the room he is beginning to realize is not his own and wonders how his friend can remain upright without toppling over. “Says the one wearing sunglasses inside.”

“Want to borrow my concealer?”

Ren looks flawless. Kai scowls at him. “Like hell.”

“By the way, Miwa texted. He wants us to take notes because he can’t make it to class.”

“Are we even gonna make it on time at this point?”

“Who cares?” Ren shrugs nonchalantly, stretching his arms above his head and causing his shirt to ride up slightly.

 _You should_ , Kai wants to say, but his stomach is suddenly feeling odd. He rubs an eye and blames everything on post-hangover nausea.

“Eh, whatever.The professor always posts the lectures online anyway so we can just marathon the ones we missed later on.”

Kai knows they’re never going to get around to that. He rolls his eyes (and regrets it almost immediately, because the loss of focus is doing nothing for the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.)

“Anyway, get up.”

“Are you serious? You just decided we’re not going.”

“Yeah, but breakfast is getting cold.”

“Burnt Pop-Tarts, you mean.”

“Your favorite.” Ren smirks. “I’m the best host, I know.”

“Bullshit,” mumbles Kai into the Pokemon blanket. The room is still going in and out of focus around him, and he’s pretty sure that if he stands he’s going to pass out. Besides, the sheets are nice and warm, so no. He will not rise to the bait of burnt Pop-Tarts. “Do what you want. I’m gonna go to sleep and try to figure out what happened last night when I wake up again.”

“Yeah that’s a great plan and all, but this isn’t your home, it’s mine. So my rules. Get up, loser.”

And with that, Ren grabs the sheets that Kai has determinedly cocooned himself into and throws them onto the floor. “Go and eat your damn Pop-Tarts. I’m calling a meeting with Miwa and Tetsu to make sure we didn’t do anything stupid.”

Kai blames the sudden change in Ren’s nonchalant tone on the hangover and busies himself with trying not to hiss at the sun suddenly flooding into his eyes through the open window.

\+ + + + +

The grating tone of the Skype call emanating from Ren’s laptop is probably the worst thing Kai’s heard all morning. He’s sitting on Ren’s bed, back against the headboard, staring at the plate of frosted Pop-Tarts in his lap and trying to summon up an appetite for them as Ren tells him exactly how fucking disgusting beer is.

“How much did I drink last night?”

“Hell if I know,” says Ren cheerfully. “Miwa kept buying White Russians for you. Halfway through, you were convinced that the bar gave you a bottomless glass.”

 _More than you, then_ , thinks Kai, and then, _Shit._

“And it was at least enough to pass out ever-so-gracefully into my loving arms on the walk home.”

Great, just _great_. Kai cringes and places his now-cold breakfast to the side, reaching for the laptop. Neither Miwa or Tetsu have answered yet, so he redials while he types in the last contact of their party.

“I’m getting Misaki on call. She’s probably the least wrecked of all of us.”

“No,” blurts Ren too suddenly.

“Why not?” deadpans Kai. “Something happen last night?”

“It’s…” Doubt flickers across his friend’s expression so quickly that Kai wonders if he’s imagined it. “It’s nothing. Carry on.”

Kai returns to the laptop, watching Skype load in four separate corners and trying not to think too much about what may or may not have happened last night. Some of the memories have resurfaced in the past half hour since he woke up, but the important parts are missing, like how he ended up in Ren’s dorm, for one, or if anyone filmed his karaoke duet with Miwa. Ren’s phone camera is almost as good as the one from his photography class this semester, so he crosses his fingers and prays for no video evidence.

Tetsu’s face is the first to pop up.

“What is it,” he greets them, sounding very annoyed. “I was just about to leave for class.”

“Good morning to you too, Tetsu!” pipes Ren through a mouthful of cold toaster pastry.

“I woke up in a bathtub in the second floor dorms,” responds Tetsu flatly. “I live on the fourth floor. It has not been a good morning by any stretch of the word.”

“At least you didn’t wake up in Ren’s room,” offers Kai dryly. Showing his shirt sleeves to the camera, he adds, “In Ren’s pajamas.”

“Ouch.” Tetsu winces sympathetically.

“I swear I didn’t look!” Ren protests as he takes a seat on the bed, and Kai begins to seriously contemplate the merits of stepping off the windowsill.

Miwa’s next, appearing onscreen with the threat of inflicting himself on Kai’s lunchtimes for the rest of the semester as thanks for the complete cleaning-out of his wallet. Kai thinks he wouldn’t mind that, because Ren’s schedule clashes horribly with his and lunch is very empty, but at the same time he knows he owes his friend a shit ton of money for the drinks he apparently downed like air last night (except didn’t Ren say Miwa was practically shoving them down him?).

“Hey, I thought you were going to class.”

“Brush your hair and then we’ll talk class,” responds Ren with his usual grace and tact.

Kai shoves him off the bed, ignoring the muffled cry of pain that floats up from the floor. “Where’d you end up last night?”

“In my own room, thankfully.” Miwa grins mischievously before reaching behind the computer for something. “However, I have your jacket.”

 _Ah_ , thinks Kai distantly, _so that’s where that went._

Next to him, Ren is climbing back onto the bed with a wounded expression, and he braces himself for the complaint that’s bound to echo in his ears and reignite the headache that’s just barely settled down into a dull roar.

Surprisingly, the smartass comment and/or the pained complaints don’t arrive. Misaki’s camera lights up, revealing her sitting across from the coffee table of her dorm room. The only discernible signs of the debacle that was last night are the noticeably dark circles under her eyes.

“Rough night?” Kai asks her.

“You have no idea.” Misaki sighs, and there’s a harsh crackle of static over the speakers before she leans in and squints at the screen. “Are those...Ren’s pajamas?”

“Yes,” says Kai.

“No,” says Ren.

Misaki snickers behind her mug of coffee.

“Not that I don’t enjoy the various degrees of bedhead,” Tetsu interrupts, “but was there a point to this call?”

“C’mon, Tetsu, get it together.” Miwa shakes his head at the camera. “I’m pretty sure all of us have gaps in our memories, considering we woke up with various degrees of hangovers. Right, guys?”

“Miwa,” says Tetsu, deceptively calm, “You woke up in your own room. I did not. Don’t tell me to _get it together_.”

Before anyone can respond, Misaki seizes the floor with an annoyed, “Does anyone remember, in its _entirety_ , what happened last night?”

There is an awkward silence. Kai and Ren shrug in sync. Tetsu shifts in his seat, and Miwa looks slightly guilty.

“I see I’m the only responsible adult,” she says, and no one is surprised to hear her long-suffering sigh.

“You’re also the only one here with a photographic memory,” mutters Kai.

“Shut up,” says Misaki smoothly. “Anyway, my life is complete as long as most of you remember our rendition of Sexy And I Know It.”

“There are a lot of things I don’t remember,” replies Ren, speaking up for the first time since the chaotic call has begun, “but I know that was something that did not happen.”

“Check your phone,” Misaki informs him smugly, before seeming to remember something and falling eerily quiet as Tetsu and Miwa keep arguing.

Kai makes a valiant attempt to rub the migraine at his temples away and attributes the silence from both her and Ren to the fascinating debate between Tetsu and Miwa, which consists mostly of Grade 0 level insults.

“At least I didn’t order a shit ton of girly drinks!”

“Beer is disgusting, so you can drop your _manly act_ \--”

“Huh, go figure.” Kai snorts. “Looks like Ren’s not the only one.”

“See? Those girly drinks are better!” Ren declares victoriously. He and Miwa share a Skype high-five at their respective webcams.

Misaki glares at the screen until everyone quiets down. It’s super effective.

“So we got to the karaoke bar and got our room, then went to the bar,” she begins in a voice that seems to echo through Ren’s cheap built-in speakers, and once she’s satisfied that everyone’s listening, she continues. “The _sane_ of us skipped beer and did shots. One tequila, one jello… no, like, three jello, and one that tasted like Swedish Berries.”

“That one was gross,” Tetsu says.

“What are you talking about? I’m still amazed you guys think _tequila_ is good,” Miwa complains.

“ _In any case_ ,” Misaki grinds out. “We can all agree that jello shots are the best. Right?”

“Right,” the boys all chorus.

“That was around the time I decided to get some drinks that Tetsu called girly, and he kept drinking the shit that is Rickards Red,” Misaki continues once again.

“It really is shit,” Ren agrees. “Seriously Tetsu, next time just drop the manly act and get a Cosmopolitan.”

Tetsu grunts. “Only if you’re buying.”

“I will, and then you’ll buy the next one yourself because they’re so good.”

“Anyway, that was around the time when Miwa started buying for Kai nonstop, and Kai somewhere between his fifth White Russian, and the ice cream sundae, finally decided to duet with him. They sang a chilling rendition of This Girl Is On Fire.”

“By chilling I hope you meant deafening,” Tetsu mutters.

“I maintain that it was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever sung and I should be on Broadway,” Miwa declares, and Kai only agrees because he can’t quite remember it.

Ren gives a low whistle. “Yeah, that show would be sold out, obviously.”

“And after Miwa and Kai finished, Ren decided another round of shots was in order,” Misaki continues before they roll off-track again. “I backed out of that one just because I still wanted to be functional and wake up in my own bed in the morning.”

“Boooooo,” Ren and Miwa chorus.

Kai silently muses that maybe next time he should ignore Miwa and follow Misaki’s lead.

“And that was around the time when Tetsu gave up on his beer and finished off the last of my Long Island Iced Tea. However, as we all know…”

“Beer before liquor, never been sicker,” the boys minus Tetsu chorus. Tetsu just shakes his head.

“Never again,” he says mournfully.

“Damn straight,” Misaki shoots back with a grimace. “I didn’t even have a scrunchie on hand to hold all that damn hair of yours.”

“He does have a lot of hair,” Miwa agrees.

“At least it’s not Ren’s,” Kai says.

“Cheers to bright sides,” Misaki says dryly. “Why was I voted to do the honours anyway?”

“Because you weren’t singing,” Miwa says, as if completely disappointed in her unenthusiasm for karaoke.

“Neither was Kai.”

“Because Kai at that point probably would’ve ended up like Tetsu?” Miwa tries.

Misaki rolls her eyes and Kai envies her ability to do so without seeming disoriented. “Anyway, the night ended fairly soon after that incident, and we all broke off on our own ways at the subway station. Tetsu went with Miwa and Kai went with Ren. And… I dunno what happened to you guys, but I had a shower and went to bed. Anything I missed that anyone wants to add?” Misaki asks.

“Nope, everything sounds right,” Miwa says. The rest nod their agreement, except Ren. “Something missing, Ren?”

Ren shakes his head. “Uh, not really.”

Misaki raises an eyebrow, but Kai doesn’t think anything of it other than she’s probably just thinking Ren’s an idiot again. That happens fairly often. Miwa just laughs.

“Alright, sure. Anyway. Think we’re done here then?” Miwa asks.

“Yeah,” Ren says. “Thanks for the enlightenment.” His voice croaks like he hasn’t had water in hours even though that’s all he’s been guzzling down this morning.

“No problem,” Misaki says, and there’s another pause between them that goes just over the point that dictates too long, but Tetsu and Miwa are already saying their goodbyes and hanging up.

“I’ll see you in the photography lab tonight if you’re feeling better,” Misaki addresses Ren before hanging up as well.

Kai slides back into the sheets and rolls over, intent on getting some more sleep before his night lecture and pointedly ignores Ren, whose eyes are still glued to the too-bright screen, looking more than a little worried.


End file.
